Stuck in SAO
by mythologygeek02
Summary: Kuroko and his new friends are all beta testers in the game Sword Art Online or better known as SAO. Follow Kuroko and his friends as they struggle through the harsh reality of the death game. How will they survive? What rivalries and friendships will they find waiting for them? Will they join guilds? Find out in this Kuroko no basket and SAO crossover!
1. Chapter 1

Kuroko Tetsuya is a 1st year at Seirin High; he is the phantom sixth man of the Legendary Teiko middle school's basketball team and the group of prodiges called the Generation of Miracles. After middle school all the Generation of Miracles split up and went to prestigious schools focused on sports so they could compete against each other. They had been monsters that crushed every team that they played against and along with it their will to play. Kuroko had had enough of their attitudes and Teikos police of "Winning is everything" so he resigned from the team and disappeared. He vowed to beat each of them one by one with his style of basketball so he could prove that winning isn't everything. He along with his new friends and teammates at Seirin did just that and that brings us to the present where it is now 6 months after Seirin beat Akashi at the Winter cup.

Seirin is all gathered at Maji burger for a much needed break from practice,

"Hey guys did you hear about this new game called Sword Art Online?!" Koganei asked excitedly while bouncing up and down in his seat.

"Um... I think so. It's that new VRMMO right?" Hyuuga asked.

" Yeah and it's been in the Beta test for a while now and only 1 thousand players were allowed to participate. I have heard that they all absolutely love it and have been raving about it on the internet." Koganei explained while everyone was lowly leaning in out of interest.

"I can't wait for the official release date next week so I can maybe get a copy. Anyone want to join me?" Only Mitobe raised his hand and Koganei slouched down in his seat sadly.

"I thought more of you might be interested so we could all play together." He said kind of depressed.

Mitobe pat him on the shoulder and instantly Koganei was happy again and said,

"Your right Mitobe, I will still have you to play with and yes let's join a guild that sounds so fun" everyone else sweat dropped at how only Koganei could understand Mitobe.

Throughout all this Kuroko had been sitting by the window drinking his vanilla shake and everyone else jumped when he spoke because they forgot he was there.

"I'll see you there Koganei-kun," Kuroko said and everyone just looked at him with confused faces so he decided that he should explain, "I am one of the Beta testers so I look forward to seeing you at the launch of the game on Sunday."

Kuroko had his usual deadpan expression while everyone else stared at him in shock. Before anyone could say anything though Kuroko had already gotten up and left for home. "Ehh!" was Seirin's shocked reply as they stared in the direction Kuroko had just gone.

When Kuroko to his home he unlocked the door and opened it only to find the usual silence waiting for him. His parents had died years ago and since then he had lived alone. He headed upstairs to his bedroom and pulled out his phone. Ever since the winter cup had ended Kuroko had made friends with the members of the other miracles basketball teams. They had all gone together and gotten copies of the Beta test version of SAO, they had bonded over the game and would log in together every night to play for a few hours. These people were Takao from Shutoku, Kasamatsu from Kaijo, Sakurai from Too, Himuro from Yosen and Mayuzumi from Rakuzen. Or they are all well known in the SAO world by their player names, Kuroko is Fantamu, Mayuzumi is Kieru, Himuro is Ahi, Sakurai is Saku, Takao is Washi, and Kasamatsu is Kisho. I texted them through the group chat we had set up when we first got the game that I am ready to go in. After I sent the text it was only a few moments before I got the texts that they were ready too so I laid down on my bed and put on my nerve gear and said "link start" then I was waking up in the hotel we had rented together on floor 9 of Aincrad. I smiled as I saw everyone else appearing in beds beside mine and as soon as everyone was here I said "Hi guys ready to go?" and we all set off to the 14th floor where we are going to raid the boss with some of our other friends we met who were participating in the Beta test.

~Time Skip to 2 days later (Sunday the day of the official launch)~

"Man we were so close to getting copies Mitobe!" Koganei said sadly as they walked back from the game store where they had been 7 people behind the person who got the last of the 10000 copies of the game SAO. "Well we are just going to have to ask Kuroko to tell us what it's like won't we," was Koganei's last thought.

~Kuroko's house~

He had just texted the others that he was ready and so he laid down and put on the nerve gear before smiling and saying,

"LINK START!" as he was sent to the world of Aincrad for what will be a long, tough, heartbreaking, and death filled journey of survival.


	2. Chapter 2

I opened my eyes and looked up to see I was at the spawn point in the town of beginnings. I looked and saw all my stats were back down to zero and I sighed.

"So much hard work all gone" I said to myself sadly as I began to take in my surroundings a little more. I saw my friends all in a group talking to each other and probably waiting for me to arrive before they did any leveling or hunting.

"Hey guys over here" I yelled and they all turned towards me and smiled as I ran up to them.

Once we had all greeted each other we started walking to our favorite weapons merchant from the beta test. As we walked I noticed all the newbies confused faces as the merchants and other NPCs at the different shops we're explaining how it works.

My friends and I were walking down the row of shops each of us in our own conversations when a newbie came up to us and said,

"Hey you guys look like you know what your doing around here, do you mind showing me the basics?"

We all looked at one another in a silent debate, we eventually agreed that it would be worth it to help him and I said,

"Sure, why not, we were part of the beta test so we got a pretty good handle on things in the game. First we should probably get you a sword. Actually we were headed to a sword merchant shop now so you can just tag along."

The newbie nodded his head excitedly with shining eyes.

"So what's your name?" Washi asked the newbie curiously. "Oh, I should have introduced myself before asking to hitch a ride um... My name is Kibo and this is my first time playing video games."

"Wow your first time, that's sad," Ani stated quietly.

"Well let me introduce me and my friends, my name is Kisho and these guys are Washi, Saku, Ani, Kieru, and Fantamu," Kisho stated proudly as he pointed to each of us as he said our names and we all waved at Kibo.

"Cool names!" Kibo said excitedly.

"So why did you decide to play this game if you've never played video games before, sorry I asked?!" Saku asked shyly while waving his hands around.

We all just rolled out eyes at the last part of Saku's question. He really needed to break the habit of saying sorry at everything.

"Well, I wanted to find my friend and I haven't really talked to him in a long time and I knew he liked video games so I figured he would be here. We kind of had a falling out if sorts a little over a year ago now and I don't have any of his contact info so I couldn't fix my mistake, so I was hoping to find him in game and apologize and stuff for everything that happened because I know he blames himself when he shouldn't because it was all me and I'm the one who cut ties and all. My only issue with my plan is that I don't have any idea what his player name would be or anything. I guess I didn't really think this all the way through when I bought the game," Kibo explained.

"Wow you are one dedicated friend," Washi said impressed that someone would go to such great lengths to apologize to someone.

"Why don't you tell me about him, if he was a beta tester we could help you find him or tell you his player name."

"Well, I don't really want to tell you his personal information but I can tell you that he is like a ghost and is usually hard to find but I don't know if that transfers over to the game or not." After he said that all my friends looked at me.

"What I am not the only one with a low presence just look at Keiru," I said defensively.

Kibo just looked at me strangely. Once we had gotten our weapons that varied from swords to clubs and shields we headed to the fields of floor one. On the way we saw one of our beta tester friends named Kirito.

"Hey Kirito how it going!" Washi called out to him excitedly while Kirito was startled quickly turned around before relaxing when he saw us.

"What's up guys, I found this new player and am showing him the ropes of the game," he said while pointing behind him where I assumed the new player was located behind the hill. I walked up and saw a guy with red hair standing there confused probably at who Kirito was talking to.

"Wow what a coincidence we found a newbie to and are also showing him the basics," Washi yelled excited still at meeting there friend.

Kirito just laughed at Washi,

"Why don't we make this a joint training session so we can catch up while we teach them?"

"Sounds like a plan, Klein get over here and meet my friends." The red haired guy now known as Klein ran over to us and we all got ready to introduce ourselves again. Kirito started,

"Hey I'm Kirito and this is Klein. I met him in the town of beginning and he asked if I could show him the ropes since I knew what I was doing," he explained while pointing at Klein when he was introduced.

I thought I should introduce us this time,

"Hello my name is Fantamu and these are my friends from the beta test and real life, Kieru, Ani, Saku, Washi, and Kisho. We met Kirito in the beta test and became fast friends and often went on boss raids together. Also this is our newbie that we met in town named Kibo," I said in my usual deadpan voice and emotionless face.

Everyone sweat dropped.

Without another word, we began to instruct Klein and Kibo on the familiar way on how to use a sword skill and kill the wild boars that we're around the field of floor one. After a while we realized how late it had gotten.

"Wow it's already 5 O clock. I still have homework to complete for school tomorrow," Ani said while in the background Saku, Kisho, Washi, and Kieru all nodded that it was the same for them.

"Well guess it's time for us to log out then, so I'll see you guys here tomorrow right?" Washi asked the group.

"I'll keep going a little longer with Klein and Kirito but yeah let's meet up here again tomorrow," I said, but then Klein spoke up,

"Sorry but I got to log out too, I ordered a pizza for 5:30pm see you tomorrow then."

"Ok see you guys later then, let's get a little bit more XP Fantamu." Kirito said and we were about to head off to kill some more wild boars but then Saku's cry made me stop and turn back around to look at him.

"Where's the logout button!"

"Wait mines not here either!" Washi commented loudly.

Everyone else opened there menus too and saw they were all missing the logout button.

"Has anyone contacted the game master because it might just be a fluke since the game did just come out of beta?" Kieru asked us all.

"I did, but no one is responding," I said seriously.

"What are we going to do if we can't log out?!" Kibo asked in a frightened voice.

"I don-" I started to say until I was cut off when everyone glowed white and we all disappeared.

"What happened?! Did we get force teleported?" Kirito asked once everything had turned back to normal except the fact that we were now back at the square in the town of beginnings.

All around us we could hear the confused voices of the other players all wondering what happened. We obviously weren't the only ones teleported here. In fact it looked like all the players were here. All 10,000 of them. Suddenly the sky turned red and a weird red goo came out of it and slowly formed the shape of a creature surrounded by a cloak that was floating in the sky. Everyone was tense as we waited for the creature to do something, attack, talk, die, anything to give us a clue as to what was going on.

"Attention players."

Kuroko stiffened as he recognised the voice—having heard the same voice on the television and even the radio throughout the past few months when the game creator was invited by the media to talk more about Sword Art Online during the few months prior to the game's official release.

"Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

Kuroko's eyes widened. He recalled the game magazine that he had been given to by Takao when he suggested we play the game in the beta test together several months ago, waving it about, with the magazine featuring Sword Art Online, the NerveGear, the company that had created them, and even the creator behind these two items – Kayaba Akihiko himself.

"I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game."

Kuroko is starting to realise what is going on now, and his face paled. He exchanged looks with Kirito who looked furious—obviously, he understood what is going on as well.

"I repeat, this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."

That brought forth a new wave of protests and demands for their questions to be answered. A couple even attempted to leave the town plaza, dismissing the Game Master's claims, only to be knocked back into the town plaza by an invisible barrier of some sort.

"What's he talking about?" Klein asked nervously; not even wanting to consider the possibility of such a thing.

"Hey, is such a thing even possible?" He asked Kirito.

"Theoretically, it is possible," Kieru was the one to answer, furrowing his brows with concern, "he is right that the transmitter's signals of the NerveGear work just like microwaves. I mean, it is possible for the NerveGear to allow the user to perform a full body dive into a game, right?"

"And if the safety is disabled, it could fry a brain." Kirito realised, realising the implications of such a situation.

"Then if we cut the power?" Kibo questioned. "No, it's not possible." Kuroko shook his head.

"The NerveGear has an internal battery, remember?" He pointed out, only making everyone more nervous.

After all, everything that Kayaba Akihiko had said thus far isn't technically voice of Kayaba Akihiko raised a few volumes due to the loud protests and murmurs of the players. "Unfortunately, several players' friends and families have ~Almost one month since the start of the game~

We split up the parties as follows: Party one is Fantamu, Kibo, Saku and Washi. Party two is Kieru, Ani, and Kisho. We have spent the last month level grinding and completing quests to raise our levels. We wanted to make it to at least level 15 before we tried to attempt to find the boss room and attack. As I predicted the non-beta testers were being hunted down to prevent them from taking all the easy quests and going on ahead with all of their game cheats that to them seemed like a unfair advantage. Most of the beta testers had resorted to going into hiding or keeping under the radar and blending in with the other players to escape persecution.

Most of the other beta testers names weren't very well known so they had an easier time blending in and hiding than the more well known and popular beta testers. Unfortunately Fantamu, Saku, Washi, Kieru, Ani, and Kisho are all pretty well known players from their frequent posts on the SAO forum about the game and their achievements being posted by the game itself. Other players had also frequently mentioned them in their own posts to the forum and anyone who was planning on getting SAO had been monitoring the forum to see what the game was all about.

Another problem that I had foreseen happening was the Player killing. The players in the game that are in denial that killing someone in game actually kills someone in IRL and those that just enjoy killing. They have been something I saw coming the second I heard the game was now a life or death game but I had hoped that it wouldn't start so soon. Their were many things I had seen coming when the death game had officially started and already some of them have started to come true and I didn't know how to stop it.

Some players were just falling into depression and staying in the town of beginnings or have gone suicidal in their hope of getting out of the game. Dozens have fallen at the hands of the player killers and even more have joined them. A lot of players have already died and I just wanted to find a way to help them, to give them some hope that this game could be cleared. There wasn't much I could do to even help my friends at the moment let alone the rest of the players yet. We had been forced to go in hiding since our group is made of so many well known beta testers, The only person in our group that could walk around town freely and get supplies for us without getting chased out or almost killed was Kibo. We had to rely on him a lot because of it and it just made me feel guilty and useless that we couldn't do anything to help.

That's is what has sparked the debate we are currently in.

"We can not stay hidden anymore!" I yelled at Ani

"Well what else are we supposed to do, if we come out of hiding people will recognize us and try to kill us!" Ani yelled back

"We need to help all of the other players and if it means being hunted down than so be it!" I retorted voice still soft like usual but it had lost it's emotionless tone and adopted one of determination and strength.

Ani had no response for a few moments and than seemed to give up arguing because he already knew he wouldn't be able to argue against Fantamu and his logic that just always shut down any other beliefs. I gave a sly smirk that was almost unnoticeable at noticing Ani's defeated expression. Everyone else had already agreed with Fantamu except Ani and had been watching the argument with hope of Ani's surrender.

"Finally with that settled" Washi started out enthusiastically "We should start a guild and hunt down all the player killers and stop them and put them in prison. That way we could help the other players and stop the player killers from killing everyone, we can even join the front lines and help to clear the game." he finished dramatically. Everyone else starting to add their own thoughts to the idea until they were all in agreement. "Ok, now that we have a purpose to follow and an idea of how to do it we will need to determine a few things before we start our guild." Kisho stated being the responsible and older player he was (also he was like the mom of the group while Kieru was like the dad since they were the oldest and worried constantly about all the younger ones) "Who should we nominate as the Guild leader?" Ani asked and immediately all hands pointed to me who was kind of shocked at the display of trust they were all putting in me.

"Why me?" I asked in my usual deadpan voice and expression. "Because your a good strategist and always know what we are thinking and how to help others. You are strong and level headed at all times and are responsible. Your a great leader even if you don't think so. Sorry I said to much!" Saku said ending it with a apology that was of course not needed. "I guess I will be Guild leader then but only if I can have Kibo and Kisho as my deputies to help me out. I don't think I can manage to be the only one in control of you bunch of ruffians" everyone agreed not even taking any offence to Fantamu's rude remark since they knew they couldn't really disagree with his statement and went on to the next task

"Will do what jobs?" I asked "I am the leader but we will need a medic, blacksmith, potions brewer, crafter, and a chef" I pointed out and so everyone thought it through for a while an we came to the conclusions that the chef would be Kibo, the crafter would be Ani, the blacksmith would be Kisho, the potions brewer would be Washi and both Saku and Kieru would be medics to make sure that they could heal anyone including the medic to ensure no one would die. "Guys we still need to name our guild!" Washi shouted. We all shouted out possible names until Kieru said one we all agreed on. "Ok" I announced to everyone with my hand hovering over the create guild button in my menu after I had put in all the information "We are now the Blue Beta guild and our goal is to find and capture all the player killers and save the other players from monsters and themselves, we will fight on the front lines and clear this death game!" I said as I clicked the button making it official and we all shouted to celebrate and I thought "I will save everyone."

ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, two hundred and thirteen players are gone forever, from both Aincard and the real world." "Two hundred and thirteen?" Kirito visibly paled from next to Takao. "I don't believe this!" Klein stubbornly protested. "This can't be happening!" Kuroko exchanged looks with Himuro who looked worried and a tad bit terrified as well. He live alone, but if something like this is true and is probably broadcasted on news stations all over the world by now, chances are that his teammates would be attempting to break his door down should he not take their calls or even fail to turn up at school or even work. There are people that would notice if he should go missing, and would sound the alarm. But what about the rest of the players in the game? Would there be anyone who would notice?

"As you can see, news organisations across the world are reporting all of this, including the deaths." Kayaba Akihiko continued speaking, even as multiple windows appeared in mid-air around him, with video feed from news stations appearing on it. "Thus, you can assume that the danger of a NerveGear being removed is now minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game." Kuroko's eyes widened again as she finally understood what this is all about, and what it means for them—the players of Sword Art Online. "But please remember this. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."Kuroko felt faint at this point, and could barely stand on his feet. Kisho who is next to him steadied him on his feet by grasping his arm gently.

He understood where Kayaba Akihiko is going with this now. In other words, should someone die in this game from now on, they will no longer get automatically be transported to the Cathedral to get revived. From now on, if someone dies in Sword Art Online, they will also die for real in the real world. "There is only one means of escape." Kayaba Akihiko's voice sounded abnormally loud in the deadly silence that had now enveloped the entire plaza. Everyone was now too shocked to even protest. A few players have even fallen to the ground on their behinds, unable to stand any longer. "In order to complete the game, or in other words, to escape from this world. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincard, Floor 1." A blue-green hologram image of the floating castle of Aincard appeared in front of the robed figure of the Game Master. "If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game." "Clear the game?" "What is he talking about?" "I see…" Kuroko bit on the edge of his thumb, gritting his teeth in silent fury, but the furious expression in his eyes spoke wonders for him. As one, the eight boys around him took a step back from him gingerly, most having more than enough experience with a furious Kuroko in their life to know just how scary he can be when furious.

"Sword Art Online had just turned into a death game. This isn't just a simple game anymore." "Clear all one hundred floors?" Klein seemed to be in a state of shock as he repeated what Kayaba had just announced. "That's impossible! Even the beta testers never made it anywhere near that high!" The beta testers – Kuroko, Takao, Kirito, Kieru, Ani, Saku and Kisho exchanged worried looks with each other. Even throughout the three month period of beta testing for Sword Art Online prior to the official release, the furthest that they have managed is just Floor 10, and even so, they have only managed to do so by the skin of their teeth, and by cooperating with each other. The Floor Boss of each floor gets tougher as they advance further. Getting better equipment and weapons, and even increasing their battle skill and level doesn't guarantee a victory against the Floor Boss either. Some Floor Bosses are just not possible to be beaten by one or two people. There are some Floor Bosses that are beatable only when at least a minimum of ten people engages in battle at the same time.

Even so, Sword Art Online isn't Kuroko's first MMPORG. Preparation for boss battles in other MMPORG games had led Kuroko to character deaths countless times, and Kuroko isn't what you would call an offensive player. He tends to perform battles with tactics and strategies in mind—often succeeding with his HP barely falling into the yellow zone. Hence why so many beta testers have wanted to team up with him during the SAO beta testing period when they have discovered what he's capable of. And now Kayaba Akihiko is telling them that the only way to beat the game and thus get out of SAO is to clear all one hundred floors and beat the final Floor Boss? That's impossible. There's no way that they could achieve this. "Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves." A present? Exchanging bewildered looks with the rest of his friends, Kuroko immediately brought up his menu interface and went to his item storage menu. He still had the item drops from the monsters that he had battled several hours earlier, including the special equipment and weapons that were given to him as a gift due to his status as a beta tester. Finally, Kuroko saw the item at the bottom of the list that he doesn't remember getting. Mirror. "Mirror?" Kuroko murmured in confusion, selecting the item from the menu, with a simple hand mirror appearing in a flash of blue in mid-air and falling into his hand. It was a simple design of a hand mirror. His chosen avatar of a black haired male with silver eyes stared back at him in confusion in the reflection of the mirror.

And then, without warning, there were panicked screams from the other players around him, including Klein and Takao, even as flashes of bright white light engulfed them. Kuroko let out a startled scream as the same light engulfed him, shielding his eyes from the bright light. Almost as soon as it had begun, it was over. "Everyone! Are you all right?" Kirito's voice echoed out, panicked. "Y-Yeah." Kuroko turned to face the Swordsman, only to stare in confusion. "Uh… Who are you?" He asked, staring at the almost feminine face of a black haired teen standing in front of him, looking as confused as he feels. Not too far away from him is a young man in his early twenties wearing the same bandanna that Klein had been wearing earlier. "And who are you?" The black haired teen asked in complete confusion, looking from her to the bandanna wearing man. Kuroko glanced over at Takao's direction and saw that he's wearing his real face once more. Next to him where Kieru had been standing earlier is that of a tall silver haired teen with a handsome face and dark eyes. Their faces looked confused as well. Kuroko caught his reflection in the hand mirror that he had been holding before the white light had engulfed them, and saw his real face staring back at him.

The large group of players that have chosen beautiful and handsome avatars for themselves have also reverted back to their true forms. "You're a guy?" "You were lying about being seventeen?" "Which means…" "How is this even possible?" "The NerveGear covers your entire head with a high-density signalling device. So it can see what your face looks like." Kirito furrowed his brows, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation. "But our height and body shape…" "When we first used the NerveGear, it had us calibrate it, right?" Klein reminded them. "You had to touch your body all over. But…!" Klein clutched at his now spiky dark brown hair with agitation. "Ahhh! What is going on here? Why did he do this?" "Right now, you're probably wondering 'Why?' Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this?" Kayaba said smoothly once the initial shock of everyone had died down. "My goal had already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason. To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck, players." The Game Master's figure then distorted and twisted before it vanished, along with all the red that have once covered the skies, thus leaving a shocked silence in his wake.

It didn't take long for the screams of disbelief and outrage to break out. Staring back at Takao and Kieru, Kuroko could see that they are in a state of shock and disbelief too. "…K-Kuroko?" A shocked voice spoke from behind him tentatively, almost as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Kuroko's eyes widened, almost forgetting that Kibo and Kisho are with them too. She turned around to face them, and his eyes widened even further as he saw the figure that were standing where Kibo were standing earlier. A dark orange haired teen with soft brown eyes is standing where Kibo is standing earlier, a shocked expression on his face. Kuroko felt as if he had stopped breathing as he stared, dropping the mirror in his hands with shock. The mirror crashed to the ground—being pulled by gravity, and dissolved into hundreds of pale green hexagonal shards. "…S-Shige-kun?"


	3. Chapter 3

Kagami's POV

I was starting to get worried about Kuroko. He said he would call me after he came out of that stupid game so we could meet up at Maji Burger and talk about our new combo technique we were developing. It had been hours since he had went in and said that he would be out by dinner but it was now long past dinner. I checked my phone again. Still no text... I'll call him... Maybe he just forgot. I dialed in Kuroko's number and listened to the phone ring over and over until it went to voicemail. Now I was even more worried because Kuroko always answered the phone or would text you back saying he couldn't pick up. I than dialed his number again. Still no answer. Maybe he just lost track of time and is still in the game, Oh well I guess I'll just see what's on TV.

I turned on the TV and it showed that it was an important announcement on the news and so I decided it may be worth paying attention to. "We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast to tell you that the new popular game Sword Art Online is now no longer a game. We recently receved a video sent to us by the creator of Sword Art Online from inside the game. It gave a warning that we will now share with you, here is the video we were sent:

"Attention players."

"Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

"I'm sure you've already noticed that the logout button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game."

"I repeat, this is not a defect in the game. It is a feature of Sword Art Online. You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life." At this I could hear a lot of voices protesting and confused and even angry at what they were being told

"There is only one means of escape."

"In order to complete the game, or in other words, to escape from this world. You are presently on the lowest floor of Aincard, Floor 1." A blue-green hologram image of the floating castle of Aincard appeared in front of the robed figure of the Game Master.

"If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game."

I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game."

"But please remember this. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be forever lost. And simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

"Finally, I've added a present from me to your item storage. Please see for yourselves."

"Mirror?" a bunch of voices that must have been the players said in confusion.

The view then changed from just seeing the big cloaked figure ting that was the gamemaster most likely to a boy holding a mirror.

It was a simple design of a hand mirror. His chosen avatar of a black haired male with silver eyes stared back at him in confusion in the reflection of the mirror.

And then, without warning, there were panicked screams from the other players around him, the boy let out a startled scream as the same light engulfed him, shielding his eyes from the bright light. Almost as soon as it had begun, it was over.

I then saw not the same boy from before the light but instead standing in the same spot and same position was Kuroko!

"Right now, you're probably wondering 'Why?' Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all this?"

"My goal had already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason. To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck, players.

END OF TRANSMISTION

"As you can see" the news reporter stated in a grim tone "That the people that are playing Sword Art Online can not get out of the game unless either they die or they complete the game by going through all 100 levels and defeating all the bosses. In the three months the beta was run for the highest floor reached was level 14 and only 6 of the beta testers ever reached that point and they are said to be the best and most widely known players in Sword Art Online. They are also currently in the game logged in. We were sent in a list of all 10,000 players logged in to SAO if you know someone currently logged in and their player username than we could start bringing them to hospitals so we can keep track of players and who has anyone knows the real identities of the 6 beta testers that made it the furthest in the beta test we would like to get them help so they can save the other trapped players. The 6 players usernames are as follows: Fantamu, Kieru, Ani, Saku, Washi, Kisho, and Kirito. Thank you so much for all of your help .

I was officially freaking out! I knew Kuroko was in the game, I had even seen him. I grabbed my phone and ran out the door and started to run to Kuroko's house since I knew If I didn't no one would find him and he would end up dying. On the way I called Hyuga and he called the rest of the team for me and we all met up at Kuroko's house. I lived pretty far from Kuroko's house so by the time I got there most of the team had already arrived and was trying and failing to break down the door. "Let me do it" I said while pushing my way through the crowd of my teammates to get to the door. I kick the door as hard as I could causing the desired effect of it falling down allowing us to enter. We rushed upstairs to where we knew Kuroko's room was and we saw him lying on the bed with the nerve gear on his head. He was still alive thankfully but we didn't know what was happening in the game at the moment or if it could kill him. We all let out a mix of sobs and sighs of relief that Kuroko was in the game but was still alive. All I could do was stare at my shadow lying on the bed in shock that I may not ever actually talk to him again.

Hyuga saw this so him being the captain took the initiative "We need to get him to the hospital as fast as we can. Mitobe you can carry him and Izuki keep an eye on that nerve gear so it doesn't come off!" Hyuga had gone into clutch mode to keep himself from being too shocked to think rationally. "Does anyone know what his username in the game is?" he asked us. Koganei stepped forward "I don't but I know who might because Kuroko said he went with friends. The only one he told me of was Takao from Shutoku and he would have told Midorima about it" Koganei explained.

Instantly I grabbed Kuroko's phone from his nightstand and thanked god that his phone wasn't password protected and started to scroll through the contacts. I found Midorima's number and called it turning the phone on speaker so we could all hear.

"Hello" A voice on the other side answered.

"Kuroko if your not going to talk I'm going to hang up I am quite busy right now." Midorima said causing us all to start talking at once into the phone.

"Ow will you shut up and who is this because there is no way this is Kuroko" Midorima said in a dark voice

I instantly glared at everyone else and began to talk "Um... Yeah it's not Kuroko but you know me. It's Kagami Taiga and the rest of the Seirin team."

Midorima was silent for an few moments before speaking again "Why do you have Kuroko's phone and what happened to him.

"He is stuck in Sword Art Online and I have reason to believe that your friend Takao is stuck with him."

Again Midorima was silent for a few moments "Yes Takao is stuck in Sword Art Online I know because I was set to meet at his house this afternoon while his family is out on vacation to keep him company. He told me he was going to play the game with his friends until 5 o'clock and he would meet me. He didn't answer the door when I knocked so I went around the ack and used the key he had hidden to get in and I found him in bed still playing and at first I just waited for him to get up but I was watching the TV and I saw the news. I am at the hospital now and am waiting for his family to meet me here."

"We need to take Kuroko to the hospital but we don't know his Username. Do you perhaps know it and who else he was playing with in the game?" I asked urgently.

"Yes I do have that information because for the last three months that is all he talked about. Kuroko played as a beta tester under the username Fantamu along with Mayuzumi Chihiro from Rakuzen who plays as Kieru, Himuro Tatsuya from Yosen who plays as Ani, Sakurai Ryo from Too who plays as Saku, my friend Takao Kazunari from Shutoku and plays as Washi, and Kasamatsu Yukio from Kaijo who plays as Kisho."

"Oh my god it's them" I said slowly.

"Yes" Midorima said quietly.

"The news said that the highest level of the game was only reached by 6 players and none of the other beta testers were even close. They reached as high as level 14 in the 3 months the beta test was running. The news reporter said they would be able to help save the other players as they had the most experience and had reached so high in the beta. Their names were Fantamu, Kieru, Ani, Saku, Washi, Kisho and Kirito. We know 5 of them and they must have met this Kirito person in game and played with him as well"

The rest of the team looked at me shocked until Midorima broke the silence "I brought Takao to the Tokyo General hospital you can meet me there with Kuroko because they have a room reserved for the 6 because they want them to get help from the hospitals because they are filling up quickly. You should also contact the other miracles since each one has a team member that needs help you should be able to contact them through Kuroko's phone since he ha all of our numbers."

Midorima than hung up.


	4. Chapter 4

Kuroko's POV

"Shidge!? What are you doing here?! You don't like video games?" I was starting to hyperventilate a little. Shidge noticed his friends distress and went in and gave him a comforting hug and started to explain "I came in to the game because I knew you would be here. You always loved videogames even if I didn't I still played with you when we would get tired of playing basketball so I knew you would play this game. I wanted to tell you I'm sorry for what I did in middle school after that game against Teiko. I wanted to be friends again and play basketball with you again and it's all because I saw your win against Akashi and Rakuzen at the Winter Cup! I wanted to talk to you but you had moved and I didn't know your phone number or anything." Shidge and I were both crying our eyes out while Kirito, and the others were just watching us confused because even around them I never show much emotion.

After a few minutes of a sobbing and hugging fest we let go of each other and wiped our faces of our tears trying to make it look like we hadn't been crying. I turned towards our friends and they were looking very confused and it was making me feel very awkward until behind me Shidge spoke up for me to my relief. "Hi guys, if you couldn't guess I met you guys earlier as Kibo and it turns out the person I was looking for was Fantamu." He started awkwardly as everyone looked even more confused at this new information. Kisho spoke up to end the awkward silence "Why were you looking for Fantamu? You said you had a falling out with the person you were looking for and as far as I know from being a friend of Fantamu in game and in the real world along with Ani, Saku, Kieru, and Washi that the only people he had a falling out with recently was the miracles and he made up with them now anyway."

"Um... I guess he never mentioned me I guess, I don't really blame him for that though it was all my fault no matter how much he blames himself." Shidge said sadly looking back at Kuroko as he continued the story "I was the last championship game in our third year of middle school and I know most of you can guess how it ended but the team we were playing against was Kibo's team and he was a childhood friend of mine. We had promised each other that we would go against each other on our respective teams after elementary school. It didn't end up happening though and I was injured in the semi-finals and was not allowed to play in the finals. Kibo tried to see me before the game but Akashi stopped him and didn't even tell me about that. The miracles made the score 111 to 11 and I snuck out of bed to watch the very ending and what I saw broke my heart. I usually could keep the miracles from going overboard and doing things like that when I was in the game so when I got out there and saw the score and my own teammates looking smug while Kibo's team just looked shattered. It shattered me and I was so mad and sad and I lost it I went down their when the teams left the court and said I had enough of all of this and quit the team. I tried to go look for Kibo afterwards but all I saw was his friend from school and he told me Kibo had quit basketball as well as the rest of the team and he game me my wristbands that were from Kibo before walking away and I haven't seen Kibo since then until I saw him during the finals of the winter cup cheering loudly for me from the stands." I explained while all of my friends from IRL were all shocked that they hadden't known such a big part of my life.

"Sorry Kirito and Klien but that was from IRL so could we just not talk about it anymore. I don't really mind you knowing since we are pretty good friends already and I know you are good people." I said to a very confused looking Kirito and Klien who than nodded in understanding. "Now thst that is all settled I think we should decide what we should do from here and fast." Kirito explained and all of us beta testers nodded in agreement while Kibo and Klien just looked at each other in confusion, "Why do we need to be quick? We are all trapped here so what is the rush?" Kibo asked.

"Well is kind of complicated. We as beta testers know what to expect in this game since we have already been playing it for the last three months. Their is very limited quests to power up and level up faster on the first few floors so we need to take some so we will be able to defeat the first floor boss with minimal casualties since we want no one to die. If we don't hurry than they will all be gone and we will not be strong enough and have a higher risk of dying." Kisho explained to them. "Ok I think I got it but I definitly am sticking with you guys since you know what is going to happen better than most and you are friends with Fantamu so that is proof that you are all good people." Kibo said thoughtfully. "Ok lets make a plan" I said with a voice filled with determination to survive. "Well to start I think we should all be in a party-" Kieru was cut off by Kirito " I plan to go solo" "What Kirito that would be suiside!" Washi yelled at Kirito. "Um... remember those friends I mentioned earlier, well they are probably really scared right now and we were all planning on starting a guild together so I won't be in the party either. I will stay in touch though and can help if you need it so don't hesitate to ask!" Klien said before running off back to the plaza. "Ok, Kirito stay and listen to the plan so you at least know what we will do so you can meet up later to share info on the boss or something" Ani said no wanting Kirito to leave yet and Kirito nodded in submition.

"Ok we should split into parties of 3 and 4 players since there are 7 of us and go on quests and do some monster hunting like earlier so we can level up faster." Kieru said explaining his earlier idea. "That way no one is ever alone and could be cornered by a monster they can't defeat without back up. Kibo since he is not as experienced will be in the party of 4 so he will have more back up." We all nodded agreeing to the idea but their was something else I thought I should add "Everyone keep your guard up, I have a feeling that the new players will start to hunt down us beta testers since we know a lot of the cheats and what to expect so that we can't beat them to the quests and stuff. I hope I am wrong but it's just a feeling I have and my gut is usually right. Since our parties are both filled with well known beta testers we will be one of the first targets. Keep up your guard and trust no one other than people you know. That is all."


	5. Chapter 5

~Almost one month since the start of the game~

We split up the parties as follows: Party one is Fantamu, Kibo, Saku and Washi. Party two is Kieru, Ani, and Kisho. We have spent the last month level grinding and completing quests to raise our levels. We wanted to make it to at least level 15 before we tried to attempt to find the boss room and attack. As I predicted the non-beta testers were being hunted down to prevent them from taking all the easy quests and going on ahead with all of their game cheats that to them seemed like a unfair advantage. Most of the beta testers had resorted to going into hiding or keeping under the radar and blending in with the other players to escape persecution.

Most of the other beta testers names weren't very well known so they had an easier time blending in and hiding than the more well known and popular beta testers. Unfortunately Fantamu, Saku, Washi, Kieru, Ani, and Kisho are all pretty well known players from their frequent posts on the SAO forum about the game and their achievements being posted by the game itself. Other players had also frequently mentioned them in their own posts to the forum and anyone who was planning on getting SAO had been monitoring the forum to see what the game was all about.

Another problem that I had foreseen happening was the Player killing. The players in the game that are in denial that killing someone in game actually kills someone in IRL and those that just enjoy killing. They have been something I saw coming the second I heard the game was now a life or death game but I had hoped that it wouldn't start so soon. Their were many things I had seen coming when the death game had officially started and already some of them have started to come true and I didn't know how to stop it.

Some players were just falling into depression and staying in the town of beginnings or have gone suicidal in their hope of getting out of the game. Dozens have fallen at the hands of the player killers and even more have joined them. A lot of players have already died and I just wanted to find a way to help them, to give them some hope that this game could be cleared. There wasn't much I could do to even help my friends at the moment let alone the rest of the players yet. We had been forced to go in hiding since our group is made of so many well known beta testers, The only person in our group that could walk around town freely and get supplies for us without getting chased out or almost killed was Kibo. We had to rely on him a lot because of it and it just made me feel guilty and useless that we couldn't do anything to help.

That's is what has sparked the debate we are currently in.

"We can not stay hidden anymore!" I yelled at Ani

"Well what else are we supposed to do, if we come out of hiding people will recognize us and try to kill us!" Ani yelled back

"We need to help all of the other players and if it means being hunted down than so be it!" I retorted voice still soft like usual but it had lost it's emotionless tone and adopted one of determination and strength.

Ani had no response for a few moments and than seemed to give up arguing because he already knew he wouldn't be able to argue against Fantamu and his logic that just always shut down any other beliefs. I gave a sly smirk that was almost unnoticeable at noticing Ani's defeated expression. Everyone else had already agreed with Fantamu except Ani and had been watching the argument with hope of Ani's surrender.

"Finally with that settled" Washi started out enthusiastically "We should start a guild and hunt down all the player killers and stop them and put them in prison. That way we could help the other players and stop the player killers from killing everyone, we can even join the front lines and help to clear the game." he finished dramatically. Everyone else starting to add their own thoughts to the idea until they were all in agreement. "Ok, now that we have a purpose to follow and an idea of how to do it we will need to determine a few things before we start our guild." Kisho stated being the responsible and older player he was (also he was like the mom of the group while Kieru was like the dad since they were the oldest and worried constantly about all the younger ones) "Who should we nominate as the Guild leader?" Ani asked and immediately all hands pointed to me who was kind of shocked at the display of trust they were all putting in me.

"Why me?" I asked in my usual deadpan voice and expression. "Because your a good strategist and always know what we are thinking and how to help others. You are strong and level headed at all times and are responsible. Your a great leader even if you don't think so. Sorry I said to much!" Saku said ending it with a apology that was of course not needed. "I guess I will be Guild leader then but only if I can have Kibo and Kisho as my deputies to help me out. I don't think I can manage to be the only one in control of you bunch of ruffians" everyone agreed not even taking any offence to Fantamu's rude remark since they knew they couldn't really disagree with his statement and went on to the next task

"Will do what jobs?" I asked "I am the leader but we will need a medic, blacksmith, potions brewer, crafter, and a chef" I pointed out and so everyone thought it through for a while an we came to the conclusions that the chef would be Kibo, the crafter would be Ani, the blacksmith would be Kisho, the potions brewer would be Washi and both Saku and Kieru would be medics to make sure that they could heal anyone including the medic to ensure no one would die. "Guys we still need to name our guild!" Washi shouted. We all shouted out possible names until Kieru said one we all agreed on. "Ok" I announced to everyone with my hand hovering over the create guild button in my menu after I had put in all the information "We are now the Blue Beta guild and our goal is to find and capture all the player killers and save the other players from monsters and themselves, we will fight on the front lines and clear this death game!" I said as I clicked the button making it official and we all shouted to celebrate and I thought "I will save everyone."


End file.
